Echo of the Force
by snakewazard
Summary: Filling in the gap between Star Wars: TCW and Star Wars: Rebels. Asajj Ventress and her part-time ally, part-time rival Boba Fett join forces once again to hunt down a very special bounty for Darth Vader. Part 1 of several, not sure how many it'll chunk up into.
1. Two Hunters

_It has been five years since the Clone Wars ended, and the Galactic Empire rose from the ashes of the Republic. The Core Worlds enjoy peace and prosperity brought by the new order, but those who might challenge the Emperor's rule are being forced to flee to the edges of the galaxy, pursued by the long reach of the Imperial Fleet. The Jedi are all but extinct, and the few that survived Order 66 are being hunted down on the order of the Emperor's mysterious right hand- Darth Vader._

 _But hunting Jedi is dangerous work, and only a few of the galaxy's best bounty hunters are up to the task. Two former enemies of the Republic must now work together to find and capture a lost Jedi. The reward will be more wealth than they can imagine, but Darth Vader is not a patient man, and their quarry must be taken alive..._

* * *

 _What a miserable planet._

Onderon, an insignificant ball of pale yellow-green, covered with jungles and primitives and drexls. She had never been there of course- the CIS invasion of Iziz was little more than a footnote in one of her briefings, and her master had thought it of little concern. Just a small piece in his grand plan. Count Dooku didn't have time to supervise the planetary takeover of such a backwater; instead, he'd simply delegated Grievous to take Iziz, the planet's only spaceport, and was somewhat surprised to find that the monstrous cyborg hadn't burned it to the ground. Not pleasantly surprised, though. Asajj Ventress had never seen her old master show anything but disdain.

Stretching as much as she could in the cramped cockpit, Asajj rubbed sleep from her eyes and watched the planet drift lazily across the viewport, slowly revealing its solitary moon- Dxun. Ky Narec had told her once that Dxun orbited close enough to Onderon that their atmospheres would pass through each other. She bit hard on her bottom lip. Ky Narec was long dead. Daydreaming about her old Jedi master was useless. Neither he nor Dooku mattered to her now. They had both left her years ago.

"We're here." Boba said quietly from the pilot's seat, too busy keying in landing coordinates to look up. "Wake up, Ventress. It's time to work."

Asajj thought of a few barbed responses, but decided against it, shrugging her affirmation and stepping out of the navigator's chair. Antagonizing Boba would just make this job harder, and it was already a gamble. Jedi hunting paid well, but there was a reason no one took the bounties these days. It had been five years since Darth Vader had marched on the Coruscant Temple and started the Purges; any Jedi that could survive that long, hunted like an animal, would be a force to be reckoned with.

Asajj was surprised that Skywalker had never shown up on the bounty list; she had fought the young Jedi Knight more times than she could remember during the Clone Wars, and he had bested her on more than one occasion. If anyone could survive the Purges, it would be him. As much as she had hated him, it was a different feeling from the burning, bitter hatred she remembered. Now, it was just bitter, and she could feel the grudging respect she had for his skill as a general, as a warrior. Had he fallen in defense of the Temple? Had his own beloved 501st gunned him down? She knew _they_ hadn't disappeared like their Jedi general; blue-blazoned ARC troopers had nearly killed her twice in the undercity of Coruscant, before she had known that the Empire was hunting Force-sensitives. Before she had run like a cowering akk dog to the Outer Rim, to hunt local miscreants for credits. She despised herself for her cowardice, but it was that or death, and Asajj knew which she preferred.

Boba had found her outside a Mos Eisley sabacc den, two years ago. Half drunk and clumsy without her lightsabers, she had thrown herself at him in a blind rage, but he tripped her into the dust and jammed a blaster rifle in her face. Later, he said the only thing that kept him from killing her was that she owed him credits for fouling up their last job together, but in two years he had never actually asked her to pay her debt. Asajj guessed he had taken pity on her, and quietly hated him for it. She wasn't even sure why she had attacked him- maybe the sight of that Mandalorian helmet, so similar to that of the clone troopers she had spent years fighting against. Or maybe she was remembering their last encounter, back when the Clone Wars were still burning themselves out, when the best job they could find was smuggling a slave bride to her warlord husband. Just the memory of her old life brought some of the old feelings to the surface. They sat like angry coals in her guts.

The past few years hadn't been easy for Boba either, but while Asajj had slunk off to hide among shadows and bottles of Sullustan gin, Boba had mercilessly clawed his way to the top of the Outer Rim underworld. Tales of Boba Fett, the green-helmed blaster for hire, were almost as popular as the rumors about Vader. Not quite infamous, but there was no doubt that every being with a price on their head knew his name. He wasn't the half-grown boy she remembered; he was still young, but now he cloaked himself in the cold poise of a veteran killer. Even his voice had changed, deeper and raspy, though she suspected either death sticks or a vibroblade to the throat had done that. Unless he had done it himself, to better fit his reputation.

"You'd better be right about this place," called Boba from the cockpit. "I don't want to go slogging through the jungle for nothing."

Asajj scowled as she pulled on a long, grey boot. "I told you, the Jedi is here. The feeling is faint, but I would know her anywhere." She pulled her armored tunic over her head, sheathed her twin vibroblades against the small of her back, felt the unfamiliar weight of her blaster in its hip holster. Five years without her lightsabers, and she still felt their absence like a missing limb. _Slave 1_ shuddered as it met atmosphere, and Asajj steadied herself on the door frame.

"Boba, you know you're supposed to _land_ on the planet, not slam into it, right?"

"Keep talking and I'll drop you out the bay doors. Then you can land however you want." Boba shot back, and threw a lever that started _Slave 1_ 's landing sequence.

The cabin tilted back, and Asajj tightened her grip so the sudden gravity shift didn't send her sprawling to the floor. She didn't know how Boba lived with such an inconveniently designed ship, but what the gunboat lacked in common sense it more than made up for in firepower; and despite her complaints, no one she knew could fly like Boba. He was a brutally efficient pilot- no frills, no fancy moves, but she had seen him match six skilled fighter pilots at once without breaking a sweat. Even so, he preferred to hunt on foot. She suspected that was because he got to meet his bounties face to face.

 _Slave 1_ touched down in a jungle clearing, a riot of green and blue and orange foliage. Asajj breathed deep through her nose as the bay door opened and the stale, life-support processed air was replaced with the humid, earthy smell of the Onderon jungle. She loosened the blaster at her thigh, and pulled on her helmet, being careful to avoid catching it in her hair. Asajj had reluctantly begun to grow it out again. After all, the bald Sith assassin had been quite an infamous figure during the Clone Wars. Her tattooed scalp drew too much attention, even in the Outer Rim. Compromising her pride and common sense, she had left the sides and back of her head bare; it had been years since the end of the war, and not many people recognized her these days- they were too busy looking over their shoulders for stormtroopers, or ISB agents, or Inquisitors. She loved the dark daggers of ink that adorned her temples and the top of her neck, but she had to admit her pale shock of hair had kept her anonymous more than once.

A brilliant blue fern crunched like glass beneath her boot as she stepped off the landing ramp. The pale yellow sun warmed her bare arms, a welcome change from the stale chill of _Slave 1's_ life support. Flipping up her face shield to enjoy the fresh air, she watched a drexl circle idly overhead, maybe a mile up. Everything else on Onderon bored her, but the drexl were fascinating. Huge, ferocious creatures, drexl were so powerful that they were able to fly to Dxun when the atmospheres overlapped.

Dooku had once made her read an ancient Sith text about Darth Bane, who had not only tamed and ridden a drexl, but had flown the beast from the moon to the planet, cutting down local savages along the way. Darth Bane, who had formed the Rule of Two, the rule that she and Dooku could have been killed for breaking. Dooku never spoke of his own master, but Asajj knew she had been his secret apprentice. She bit her lip again, this time drawing blood. Dooku was a pile of ash, his head removed (by Skywalker, of all people!) and his body burnt up in the atmosphere of Coruscant. He was dead, dead, dead. She was torn between dark joy and savage disappointment that she could never take revenge personally. She tasted the salt and iron on her tongue. A part of her wished it was Dooku's blood, but that part had grown quieter in the past few years. She pushed it down, focusing on the hypnotic circling of the drexl, and sat down cross-legged in the ferns.

Boba strode out of the doors ahead of her, cradling his helmet under one arm and his blaster carbine in the other. Asajj wasn't sure where he'd gotten a suit of Mandalorian armor, but after two years of hunting with him on and off, it was hard to picture the young man without it.

"Is she here? Check again. I want to be sure." Asajj was about to argue, but Boba gave her a narrow grin. "You're the magic expert, after all. This Jedi is worth a lot of credits, and I'd rather not get on Vader's bad side." He snorted a laugh. "If he even has a good side."

Reaching out with the Force, Asajj felt a wild tangle of jungle life; but, more importantly, she felt the disturbance she had felt before in orbit. It was stronger here. She had been right.

Ahsoka Tano was on Onderon.


	2. The Lost Jedi

Ahsoka was roused by the indignant roar of a drexl, somewhere above the canopy. Years of living on Onderon told her it was an adult female, probably off hunting. Ahsoka touched the drexl experimentally with her mind; she was hungry, and lonely. And also… Ahsoka opened one eye. Something else. It wasn't coming from the drexl, but there was a flicker of danger, of darkness in the Force, like clouds passing over the sun. It almost seemed familiar… but so faint that she couldn't place it.

Abandoning her meditation, she opened her other eye, uncrossed her legs, and lay back against the cool, earthen floor. The ceiling of her hut was open to the sky, a green wash of sunlight filling the room with the dancing shadows of leaves. She watched some kind of tiny, blue avian creature hop onto a low branch overhead. She hadn't seen one like it before, which was strange; four years on Onderon had turned her into something of an expert on the planet's wildlife. Ahsoka reached out to it with the Force, calming it enough that she could get a closer look, but another flicker of unease went through her, and the blue thing hopped out of her sight. She sat up slowly, stretching out her senses. There it was, the familiar presence again… something about it brought old memories to the surface of her mind. Unbidden, her master came with them.

Anakin Skywalker, the greatest Jedi she had ever known. Strong, clever, iron-willed, compassionate, everything she had admired in the Jedi Knights since she had been taken into the Order. Even when the entire Republic turned on her, he had never doubted her for a second; Ahsoka knew she had made the right choice to leave the Jedi, but leaving Anakin had been the hardest thing she had ever done. Jedi weren't supposed to form bonds, but that hadn't stopped Anakin… and if anything, their bond had made both master and apprentice stronger. Another problem with Jedi teachings. Anakin was attached to _everything_ \- R2 and Threepio, the _Twilight_ , Obi-Wan, the Chancellor, Padme. _Especially Padme._ Ahsoka smiled to herself; her master's love for Senator Amidala had been painfully obvious, to Ahsoka if not the rest of the Order. She knew the two were old friends, but sometimes she wondered why Padme didn't just request a different Jedi protector. One that wouldn't look at her like Anakin did.

Where the Jedi taught detachment, Anakin's connections had just made him more determined, more focused. Where they taught patience, Anakin was bold and decisive, and it made him a natural leader and a cunning warrior. Where they taught logic, he followed his feelings, which invariably led him to victory. It all flew in the face of the Council, and when Ahsoka had left the Jedi, she almost wished she could have taken Anakin with her. She saw the way the other Jedi looked at her master, she knew what they thought of him. He was just… different. Some Jedi took comfort from structure and order, but Ahsoka knew all too well that the rules didn't fit everyone. She was proof of that.

She sighed, and let Anakin go for now. Five years ago, when she had heard of the sacking of the Jedi Temple by the 501st, she had nearly gone crazy trying to find her master, but in the years after his death, the rage and denial had turned into sorrowful acceptance. She wasn't supposed to know what was going on in the Temple, but she used to get occasional updates from the few Padawans brave enough to contact her in secret (and even a few short holo-messages from Anakin), and knew her master had been on Coruscant during Order 66. Both Anakin and Whie Malreaux had sent her a message the night before the attack, both had said they could feel something dark on the horizon… and then nothing. Ahsoka had returned to the Temple, only to find it guarded by unfamiliar clones wearing 501st Legion armor. She tried to talk to Rex, but the troopers said they had been reassigned under a Commander Appo. They hadn't even recognized her. After that, she had scoured Coruscant looking for any clue to what had happened in the Temple. Anakin had stopped sending messages; so had Whie, and the other Padawans. It was only when she got off-planet in a borrowed Y-wing that she heard Obi-Wan's recorded message over the ship's comm channels, warning all Jedi to stay away from the Temple. Years later, Ahsoka knew exactly how lucky she had been. Friend or no, Rex would have shot her on sight after Order 66. If she had revealed herself as a Jedi, she would never have made it off-planet.

It was strange to think that it had only been 5 years since Anakin's death at the hands of Darth Vader. Ahsoka didn't recognize that name, though she assumed it was the either a Sith apprentice that had usurped Dooku's position, or Dooku himself was the apprentice, as some of the Jedi had believed, and Vader was his illusive master. Either way, Ahsoka thought, at least Anakin had died in defense of the Jedi- even if he had failed. No one had ever specifically told her that Vader had killed her master, but she couldn't imagine Anakin losing to anyone but a fully-fledged Sith Lord. The Jedi would say he had become one with the Force, but the thought didn't comfort her as much as it once did. And now, the Jedi were gone.

The drexl roared again, farther away this time. Ahsoka brought herself back to the jungle, brushing away the memories of another life. Anakin could wait. Something was coming, she could feel the disturbance in the Force, and she wasn't going to be caught off guard. She stood, stretching ritually to work the kinks out of her legs, and shrugged into a grey, shapeless hooded cloak. Her hand went to her waist, readjusting the carved wooden hilt of a lightsaber.

She was lucky to have it, after losing both her sabers on Coruscant in the terrifying few days when she had been framed for bombing the Temple. Leaving the Order meant that she didn't have the means to construct a new lightsaber, and she couldn't go to Ilum to find a new crystal- Vader had personally destroyed the crystal caverns and killed the fugitive Jedi that had been hiding there. So Ahsoka had been without a lightsaber for almost a year after leaving the Order, until she had broken into the library of a Sith artifact collector on Dantooine. She had barely escaped with her life, but she made it out with a holobook detailing how to grow a synthetic crystal; this was how the Sith grew their signature bloodshine blades. Hers had taken weeks of meditation, but it had yielded a crystal of a warm yellow that she had grown quite fond of. The hilt was easier; she had already designed it a hundred times in her mind, ever since she lost her green sabers. It had a slanted emitter, like Anakin's, but the grip was made of a hard, pale wood she had found on Dxun, with a squat, metal cylinder for a pommel. The activator was a black trigger switch that sat just below the emitter, and just above her index finger. It wasn't as pretty as her first lightsaber, and she had sacrificed some precious parts of her Y-wing to build it, but she thought the unique look suited her. Her favorite part was the sound; at first, its similarity to the activation of a Sith lightsaber unnerved her, but now she loved the distinctive _snap-hiss_ it made, the beam of sunny golden light, the high-pitched hum as it cut the air. She smiled as the hilt slipped comfortably into her palm. It was hers. " _This weapon is your life!"_ Anakin would have been proud.

She draped the hood of the cloak over her montrals and adjusted it until it hid most of her face, slung a small travelsack onto her shoulder, then hung the lightsaber on her belt loop, hidden in one of the cloak's folds. She pulled on a rope that hung down past her face, and the skylight creaked closed; the room was dark, but it was small, and she didn't have much to trip over. To many the room would have been painfully cramped, but Ahsoka had gotten used to spartan living quarters when she was a Jedi, and her new home fit her like a well-worn pair of shoes. She had built it herself from living saplings, on the cliffs where she had fought and nearly died alongside Saw and Steela. And Lux.

She wondered how he was doing; Lux had paid her a visit three months ago, bringing food, supplies, and information about the Imperial Senate. Lux was now Senator Bonteri of Onderon, so he spent most of his time off-planet, but when he managed to slip away from court politics long enough, he would take a speeder into the jungle to Ahsoka's hut. He might have been a respected Senator, but she couldn't see anything but the young idealist she'd met on Raxus. About a year back, he had grown a ridiculous little beard that he seemed unreasonably proud of, and that she could never quite take seriously on his boyish face.

Lux Bonteri had never really outgrown his one-sided affection for Ahsoka, but over the years apart his clumsy advances had turned into a sort of clever teasing that turned her words around on her and made her want to punch him in the eye. She guessed that was partly because he had a few years of Senate rhetoric under his belt, and partly because she regularly went weeks without speaking to anyone. A few beast-riders knew where to find her hut and would stop to trade with her on their way to Iziz, but they weren't much for conversation, and most barely spoke Basic. Occasionally, lost or injured hunters would stumble on her home, and she would help get them back to Iziz as much as she could without revealing who she was. After a few years of this, some people would even seek her out, hearing the stories of a young Togruta hermit that could splint a broken leg, dress a blaster wound, or lead them through even the wildest parts of the jungle. More importantly, they knew the she wouldn't ask too many questions. She was happy for their brief company, but traders, nomads, and fugitives didn't give her much opportunity to sharpen her wit. Lately she found herself missing the sarcastic, high-spirited girl she had been, matching comebacks with Anakin, back to back against a sea of battle droids. Lux didn't say it, but she could sense he was thinking the same thing. Ahsoka was quieter now, more introspective, more subdued. Years of running for your life changed a person.

But the last time Lux had stolen away from politics to visit her, the roguish young senator had been shrouded in helpless, righteous anger, clouds of it that Ahsoka could have sensed from the other side of the Mid Rim. Before she could even ask what was the matter, he was already talking. The Emperor had placed more restrictions on the Senate. A new division of Inquisitors had been organized to hunt Force-sensitive children, to what end it was not known. Vader's Fist (as the 501st Legion was now called) had hunted down more Jedi; Lux brought a list of those already terminated, and Ahsoka's heart sank when she found Master Luminara's name. The age of peace promised by Emperor Palpatine was looking more and more like war each day.

Lux said he had friends in the Senate that would oppose the Emperor's rise to further power; Senators Bail Organa and Mon Mothma had even begun quiet talk of rebellion, and Lux was tempted to take them up on the offer. He begged Ahsoka to come with him to Alderaan, where the rebel sentiment was strongest, but she had stayed. She was no Jedi, no matter what Lux said, but the Empire would not make that distinction. More troubling was the bounty Lux had shown her; Darth Vader, infamous Jedi killer, had specifically ordered Ahsoka Tano to be brought in alive. The reward for her capture was astronomical. All this together gave her a very bad feeling about leaving Onderon, and she had refused Lux; after working his silver tongue for two hours to no avail, he changed tactics. She called him an idealist; he called her a coward. The conversation had just gotten worse from there, and the young senator had stormed off in helpless fury. Ahsoka regretted their parting, but she knew he would come back- he was doing it all to save her, after all. Even if she didn't need it. Besides, she had a strange feeling that Onderon was not done with her yet.

 _That_ was the feeling she had now, a mix of anticipation and peril and… familiarity, though she didn't know why. Ducking through the low doorway, Ahsoka left the hut, and used the Force to drag a blanket of ferns and sticks over it. No one would look twice at another lump of foliage in the vast jungle. She dropped into a crouch, glad that she had decided to wear the cloak. It was hot and stuffy, but her bare red skin would have stuck out like… well, like a lightsaber blade.

Ahsoka walked slowly for a while, remembering what Rex had taught her about scouting. Stay low. Step softly. Break up your outline. Keep your ears open. She wondered how much good it had done him in the end; for all she knew, Rex might have died with Anakin, turned on by his own soldiers. But even Rex couldn't fade into the trees until you could look straight through him and see nothing. Rex couldn't step so softly he left no footprints, even in mud or snow. Ahsoka's time in the jungle had taught her things she never believed possible before leaving the Order. When Ahsoka stretched with her mind, she could hear everything in a quarter-mile circle of jungle. Two lumbering bomas, a few more of the strange blue avians, a ruping even larger than the one Steela had flown, leading the insurgency against the Separatist leader. She padded softly through the trees, but it was only five minutes before she found what she had been sensing. Two humanoids, each with a strong memory attached, but she couldn't place it. They were on foot, moving quickly. One was male, experienced and deadly. The other…

Ahsoka reeled as the other presence prodded her consciousness. She barely managed to keep herself hidden.

 _A Jedi?_

Crouching lower and moving quietly into a mess of underbrush, she reached again for the other presence. Blast it, she was so familiar… The other presence reached again, and Ahsoka knew her. The memory thundered to the surface.

 _There is no emotion. There is peace._ But she was afraid.


	3. Trigger

There it was again! Every so often, Asajj would get a flash of Ahsoka's presence, stronger than it had been. The lost Jedi still had her connection to the Force- she wasn't exactly hiding it. Flicking her visor down over her face, Asajj hoped her quarry didn't realize they were coming. Alone she was sure she could sneak up on Ahsoka easily, but Boba didn't have the luxury of the Force to mask his footsteps. He knew how to move quietly, but only if he was taking his time, and Asajj had set off at a run the second she had felt Ahsoka probing the area with her mind. Boba kept up admirably, but his heavy armor and the uneven jungle terrain was slowing him down. Asajj barely noticed it, surging forward with the Force pushing her onward, faster, faster.

She looked over as Boba fired his jetpack for a half second, leaping onto a tree branch eight meters above the forest floor as gracefully as any Jedi. Unfortunately, Jedi didn't make the shrill sound of jet engines every time they jumped. She shot him a poisonous glance for making so much noise, but he had pulled his helmet on and was perched on the branch, focusing down the sights of his blaster rifle. He waved two fingers at Asajj, then ahead of him to the left. She suppressed a laugh- some clone habits were bred in. Boba used some type of hand signals to communicate silently during missions, but Asajj had never bothered to learn the specifics- she could usually make out their general meaning just by probing Boba's thoughts. When she couldn't, she improvised. She slid to a halt behind a thick, gnarled tree, closing her eyes and reaching out with the Force. Ahsoka was close.

Boba tossed a small bundle out of the tree, and Asajj caught it with the Force before it hit the ground, then unravelled it and laid the tangled wires in the leaves, where they would be easily missed. They were some kind of stun-cords that Boba had dreamed up, essentially an electrified net that temporarily shut down the nerves and muscles when someone touched them. It wouldn't kill most beingsl- that's why they were using it, as Ahsoka was strictly to be taken in alive- but Asajj had seen Boba use it before. They hurt worse than energy bindings if you touched even a few, and gave you paralyzing seizures if you were unlucky enough to fall into the entire net. She was surprised to find that she hoped Ahsoka would only touch a few. Strange.

Asajj unclasped her holster and twin vibroblade sheaths, then unslung the long rifle from her shoulder and loaded a tibanna cartridge as quietly as she could. She knew Ahsoka could most likely deflect or evade any blaster bolts; the rifles were just a way to lure her in close, where she could fall into the net. If she knew anything about the brash young Jedi, taking a few potshots at her would be a sure way to get her close. Even so, Asajj was going to aim for the knee if she got a clear shot. Better than having to deal with her in close quarters with no lightsabers. Blast it, she missed them so much. The twin scarlet blades had been a gift from Dooku, but they had fit her far better than the painfully ordinary saber she had built under Ky Narec. She would have given an eye to have them back again. Maybe two.

Above her, Boba sprang into motion, raising his rifle to his eye and scanning along the treeline ahead. The bead swayed, bobbed up and down, then stopped. Even through his helmet, through the muted chorus of the jungle, she almost heard him draw a half breath and let it out before squeezing the trigger. Pure soldier, to the bone, as always. A red bolt of plasma disappeared into the foliage, but Asajj heard no cry of pain, no lightsaber ignition… nothing. She turned to glare at Boba, but he was still looking, searching again with his rifle. She sighed, noting his failure so she could bring up after the mission, and synced her scope to the lenses of her helmet. Asajj searched the trees for movement, almost firing when a small blue bird hopped in and out of view. She continued scanning, but saw nothing. Boba took a second shot, and she followed the bolt with her scope… there! There was a blurry humanoid shape that had just disappeared behind a tree trunk. Could it be her? Asajj reached out with the Force and met the Ahsoka's mind. Staring down the scope, Asajj waited for the Jedi to move out from behind the tree so she could blast her leg and haul her off to Vader. She and Boba had agreed that whoever took Ahsoka down got an extra five percent of the bounty, and she was not about to lose seventeen thousand credits by being slow on the draw. She wrapped a pale finger gently around the trigger.

Boba fired again, and suddenly she realized what he was doing. He was missing on purpose. With his green armor and his high position in the trees, Ahsoka wouldn't be able to see him, and the Jedi would assume the shooter had terrible aim… and would be far more likely to come out into the open. Not only that, but Boba was angling the shots enough to give Ahsoka a completely wrong idea of where he was hiding. Asajj was quietly impressed, but resolved not to say anything. Boba was already full of himself, and complimenting him would only make it worse. She kept her rifle trained on last spot she had seen Ahsoka and switched it to infrared. The jungle lit up like a bonfire as the scope picked up a thousand tiny heat sources, but she saw the one she was looking for. Crouched nearly to the ground, the sleight humanoid form was creeping ever closer to their hiding spot. Asajj grinned savagely and pulled the trigger, aiming for Ahsoka's leg.

A white-hot arc appeared in the bloody red light of the scope, burning lines into both her retinas. Blinking furiously against the afterimage, she heard the distinct hum and clash as her bolt ricocheted wildly into the jungle. She heard more as Boba opened fire, five shots in quick succession followed by a flurry of crackling energy as they were dodged or deflected by the Jedi. The jungle came back into focus as her lenses adjusted to the sudden light, and Asajj saw a streak of light as her quarry leapt into the branches of a massive, gnarled tree. The glow disappeared again with a signature _hiss_. She wrenched her facemask open and bit back a curse. Her lenses were acting up again; better ones would have filtered the sudden brightness of a lightsaber, but lately she had only been making enough credits to eat and keep _Slave 1_ fueled. The Empire had a hand in everyone's pocket.

"Pay up, I told you she still had a lightsaber!" Boba shouted from his perch, lining up another shot. The voice modulator in his helmet couldn't completely remove the smugness from his voice. Asajj rolled her eyes. Everything was a competition with Boba. Maybe that's why he was the best hunter in the Outer Rim.

"Shut up and keep shooting!" Asajj snarled back. "Besides, we never agreed on-"

She cut off, noticing a flash of movement to their right. Boba fired again, but this time the Jedi had found him. She was running along a low branch, vaulting high in the air, blurring as she spun and slapped the bolt into the ground. Finally seeing her washed away any doubts Asajj may have had about her target's identity. The red skin, the acrobatics, the lightsaber held in a Shien reverse grip- it couldn't be anyone else.

Boba tracked Ahsoka's path with his long rifle, but he was running out of range. Ahsoka landed on the forest floor and rolled behind an outcrop of stone, blocking another shot. Asajj slung her rifle on her back and drew her blaster, aiming at the stone, but the Jedi was already moving, sprinting through a tall cluster of ferns and running a wide arc toward the tree where Boba was set up. Asajj got off three shots, but one went wide, and the second came right back at her, deflected by Ahsoka's blade. Asajj silently thanked her Force reflexes as it hummed past her face. The third shot grazed Ahsoka's hip. She stumbled, but kept running. Asajj watched her, hoping she would fall into the net, but she cleared the edge of it without noticing. Boba fired as Ahsoka jumped a fallen tree next to his perch, his shot ripping through her cloak. Then the yellow blade whirled through the air, slicing through the barrel of his rifle before circling back to Ahsoka's hand.

 _Most impressive._ Dooku had hated the idea of throwing a lightsaber, calling it a flashy, stupid risk, but Asajj had always thought it looked dramatic- though she never practiced it herself. She wondered where Ahsoka had picked the trick up. Unruffled, Boba dropped the rifle and jumped out of the tree, drawing his EE-3 in midair and lighting up his jetpack. He hovered, spraying bolts at Ahsoka, but she was already running the other way, deflecting his shots. Asajj saw Ahsoka turn away and seized the opportunity, firing twice at her back. One flew over her shoulder, and she whirled, blocking the other. Her right foot came forward in a reverse parry stance, but as it came down, Asajj saw Ahsoka twitch hard and yank her leg back, her face contorted with pain and shock. The stun cords had done their job. Ahsoka would be numb all the way to her hip.

Boba circled in the air and a ten-meter flame bloomed from his wrist. Pieces of foliage caught around her, but Ahsoka dove away from the net and under the fire, deflecting another blast from Asajj as she lay on her back. Asajj pulled the trigger again, but got a metallic crunching sound from inside her blaster. Blasted cheap thing, it was jammed again! She wished she'd paid to have it fixed _before_ getting scammed by some wannabe smuggler kid. If she ever saw Calrissian again, his head was going to roll. She slammed the useless blaster into its holster and drew her vibroblades. The grips buzzed in her hands as they switched on. Cortosis would stop a lightsaber, and vibroblades cut nearly as fast, but her twin blades were only half a meter long. At least they weren't falling apart like the rest of her gear. Asajj swore she would get herself shiny new equipment after this job. She deserved it.

The jet of fire sputtered out and Asajj leapt into its place, giving Boba a few seconds to retreat and prepare his next trick. Asajj was on Ahsoka before she was halfway off the ground, but the golden blade flashed out at the last second, catching the twin knives and turning them aside. Asajj spun and pressed the attack again, but now Ahsoka was upright, her lightsaber weaving a tight defensive pattern, countering one vibroblade just long enough to kick Asajj in the hip and force her to step back on the defensive. _Soresu?_ Ahsoka had always favored the reverse-grip Shien, but now she held her saber forward, redirecting and misleading attacks… just like Kenobi. Kenobi, who Asajj had never quite bested, in duels or fleet combat. A clever and unconventional general, not to mention that he was once Skywalker's master. As much as Asajj had hated the Jedi, she couldn't deny he was one of the best defensive fighters she had ever gone up against. Small wonder there was still a bounty waiting to be claimed on Kenobi's head- even if anyone could find him, Asajj doubted most bounty hunters were up to the challenge. Ahsoka's technique wasn't nearly as refined, but she was more than capable, and her quick transition between forms made Asajj nervous. Who knew what else the little Jedi had picked up on the run?

Asajj felt a prickle of danger and sidestepped. A swarm of blue darts zoomed past her shoulder towards Ahsoka, who flicked her lightsaber in a quick double circle, cutting them out of the air. Several darts made it through the blade, but most missed her entirely. Two hung from the arm of Ahsoka's cloak, but it was clear they hadn't found anything vital. Asajj twisted to face the new attack, only to find Boba fiddling with some kind of launcher on his wrist.

"At least warn me when you're about to shoot me full of needles," she said venomously.

"Why?" Boba shrugged, closing his gauntlet. "I know you can dodge them."

Asajj fixed him with her frostiest look, then turned around. She saw a blue feather buried deep in Ahsoka's thigh. Ahsoka followed her eyes, then noticed the dart and ripped it out with her free hand.

"Next time, remind me to put barbs on those," Boba grumbled through his voice filter.

Asajj took a step back, then another, until she brushed her shoulder against Boba's armored one. He was exactly where she thought he would be. His military efficiency did have its uses. She was breathing harder than she would have liked, but fighting Ahsoka brought back all the right memories, and the years spent drilling Jar'Kai katas were still fresh in her mind. She grinned and hissed out a breath, all sharp white teeth and adrenaline. Boba began moving right, and she mirrored him, circling like pack animals. Ahsoka fell into a low parry stance as they came closer, her saber held backward across her body. She had pulled the dart out quickly, but Boba knew his poisons. One needle wouldn't do the job quickly, but it would slow her down, blur her vision, dull her Force senses. Then they could throw her in binders and fly straight to Vader to claim their reward. Or, rather, Boba would do the last part. Asajj wanted nothing to do with the Empire, least of all with a powerful Sith Lord who had spent half a decade slaughtering Force users. These days, she would rather take a running jump into a Rancor's mouth then get anywhere near the Core Worlds.

Boba tucked the carbine into his shoulder and started firing, circling Ahsoka, but she deflected the first shot with a flourish and then jumped straight up, out of the trap they were setting. Her hand caught a branch, and she scrambled up onto it. Asajj took off running, following Ahsoka's path above her. The yellow blade sparked and angled Boba's shots back, missing narrowly as he rolled into the underbrush. Ahsoka grabbed a vine, swung and somersaulted. She landed on a twisted tree limb, then planted her feet to parry.

 _Why did she stop?_ Asajj frowned. If she didn't know better she would think the Jedi was luring them into a trap, but there was no time to set one. Asajj ran another 10 meters, almost underneath Ahsoka, then slid to a stumbling halt, wide-eyed. _The net._ Ahsoka hadn't set a trap, but Asajj and Boba had… the little _schutta_ was trying to lure them onto their own net! She smiled menacingly up at Ahsoka, and was surprised by her quarry's smug grin. That was one thing they had in common- they loved a challenge.

Boba nearly tripped headlong over Asajj, but he would have ran straight into the stun cords if she hadn't thrown a shoulder hard into his chestplate. He regained his balance and rounded on her furiously.

"Boba, she's over your net!" she hissed, before he could speak.

Boba regained his balance and started his jetpack wordlessly, jumping into the air after Ahsoka. It was great working with professionals. Half the bounty hunters Asajj knew would have gotten their shorts all in a knot and forgotten completely about the target for ten minutes if she tried something like that. Twenty minutes if they realized she was right.

Ahsoka was moving the second Boba got to her eye level, jumping a wide arc over his head. He shot another gout of fire after her, but she was too fast for even his trooper reflexes. She landed standing on his shoulders, sliced down at his back with her lightsaber as he twisted and clutched at her, trying to throw her off. Asajj's breath caught in her throat as she watched the blade fall, but it didn't pierce the armor. It bounced off? No, it wasn't aimed at him at all… Ahsoka had shoved the lightsaber into Boba's jetpack and twisted it free. She kicked off Boba, launching herself into the air. The jets choked black smoke. He hung in the air for a maddening second, then began to fall.

Straight into the net.

Boba screamed in his helmet, the sound grating and inhuman through the filter of his breath mask. He thrashed manically as the threads discharged, snapping up over him like a monstrous mouth. Smoke trickled from the cracks between his armor plates as they burned his flight suit. Asajj felt her stomach drop, looked up furiously at Ahsoka to find her wearing the same mask of horror. The crackling stopped, the cords locked solidly together over him, still twitching weakly. Asajj knew the cords were nonlethal- but they were usually nowhere near this bad. Boba must have upped the charge, to make sure Ahsoka wouldn't escape.

For a long moment she was frozen still, the jungle eerily quiet. Then a drexl roared in the distance, and Asajj snapped back into action, staring down Ahsoka, waiting for her to move first. She also probed at Boba with the Force, but she wasn't trained to heal; all she could tell was that he was still alive, but unconscious and badly hurt. She suddenly realized Ahsoka could leap in and finish the job, and ran to stand over him, daring the Jedi to try it.

Instead, Ahsoka suddenly sat cross-legged on her branch. The shock on her face disappeared as she closed her eyes, deactivating her lightsaber with a metallic hiss.

 _Another trick?_ Asajj gripped her vibroblades nervously. Boba was vulnerable, and she was starting to tire, but Ahsoka still looked fresh as ever. Asajj braced herself for an attack as she felt Ahsoka stretching out with the Force. It never came. On her branch, Ahsoka opened her eyes, smiling a faint, sad smile that almost wasn't there at all.

"I think he'll be alright," she said in a quiet voice.

Ahsoka hung her lightsaber on her belt. She raised her empty hands, the picture of innocence. Asajj narrowed her eyes. The Ahsoka she knew would never surrender, least of all to her. More likely she was planning something. One red hand slowly lowered the grey hood, and Asajj looked at the little Jedi's face for the first time in five years. It was undeniably Ahsoka, but there were differences… she wasn't much taller, but she was leaner, more muscular. A few lines around the mouth and eyes, a small razor-straight scar crossing both lips. Her montrals were a few inches taller, and trailed nearly to her waist. Her wide blue eyes looked twenty years older than they should have. Asajj knew the marks of hard living, but she was surprised at how much older Ahsoka looked. No, not old… experienced. She looked every bit the Jedi she was.

 _Except she isn't._ Asajj fought the urge to laugh. How lucky could Ahsoka be? Kicked out of the Order mere months before the Empire started massacring them? Somehow remaining hidden for years, when thousands of Jedi Knights failed? Not to mention the spectacular fight she had put up when someone finally discovered her. Asajj felt her grudging admiration growing and scowled inwardly as she pushed it down. She stood with Boba at her back as Ahsoka dropped lightly onto the forest floor, hands still raised.

"Back away from him, Asajj," said Ahsoka, taking a step forward.

There was no threat in her voice, but the Jedi could mask their feelings. Asajj bared her teeth and crouched lower over Boba's body, watching for any sign of trickery. Ahsoka's eyes never left Asajj, but she took another step closer.

"I'm not going to kill him. I want to help." Ahsoka was within range of the vibroblades. Asajj could take her hand off before she could even draw her saber. She wouldn't die, but she'd be defenseless, and Vader would pay a fortune for her…

"The net… I didn't know…" Ahsoka trailed off, and Asajj was surprised by the regret in her voice. "I didn't want to hurt him."

Her mind screamed _danger, liar, kill her now_ , but something made Asajj move her foot back over Boba. Then the other. She took another step. Boba lay unconscious between them, wrapped tightly in the metal cords. Ahsoka kept her eyes on Asajj, but she kneeled down and put her hand on the T-shaped visor of Boba's helmet. She frowned.

"He's burned pretty bad, but if you get him out of his armor and into a bacta tank quickly, he won't scar. He'll wake up in an hour or two, but he's going to be in a lot of pain." Ahsoka swallowed visibly. "Can you get him to your ship?"

Asajj gave a slow nod. _Slave I_ was too small for a proper bacta tank, but Boba had a secondhand medical droid crammed into a storage compartment, and there were plenty of bacta packs and bandages onboard. Any respectable bounty hunter knew enough to prepare for jobs that inevitably went sour. It wasn't perfect, but it would be enough until she could get him in a real tank.

Asajj watched her stand up and step away from Boba, pulling her hood back over her horns. It shadowed her face, but Asajj could see her lips curl slightly, her eyes crinkle at the edges.

Without warning, Ahsoka spun on her heel. "Come find me on Dxun," she called over her shoulder, and then she was running, her cloak snapping like a flag behind her, before she disappeared into a thicket of blue-green stalks.

Asajj felt herself tense, ready to spring after her… then she looked down at Boba, limp and tangled in the cords. She screamed in frustration. It felt like she was being torn in half. If Ahsoka escaped, Boba would never forgive her, but if she left him to the jungle… she would never forgive herself. Even though Boba would have left her there without a second thought, if he were in her place. _No, he wouldn't. He could have left me in the gutter on Tatooine, but he didn't. He could have sold me to Vader, but he didn't._ She owed him too much. Asajj lifted Boba over her shoulder, bending under the weight of his armor, and took off toward _Slave 1_. Now, at least, her debt to Boba would be paid.


	4. Dxun

Ahsoka made it back to her hut in five minutes, trees blurring past her on either side as she ran. She felt the Dark Jedi's presence fade the farther she went, but Ahsoka couldn't be sure. Asajj wasn't the type to give up easily. Still, she definitely seemed a far cry from the ruthless Sith assassin Ahsoka remembered. And the way she had defended Boba…

Ahsoka shuddered. Boba Fett. The green Mandalorian armor was new, and he wasn't the angry boy she and Master Plo Koon had arrested, during the Clone Wars. He had said that Mace Windu killed his father, but in reality his revenge extended to all Jedi- and now he was formidable enough to actually kill them. Ahsoka knew how lucky she had been. Lux's lists of dead Jedi also listed their killers, and Boba had nearly a dozen to his name. Ahsoka had pitied him once, but there had been a new darkness in him that chilled her blood. No one hated the Jedi more, except maybe the Emperor. And Vader.

Stopping outside the concealed building, Ahsoka opened her travelsack and dug through it before pulling out a comlink. She tried not to think about what she would have given for a decent utility belt, but at least the comlink worked. A red dot glowed dimly as she activated it, and a flurry of beeps and whistles came through, crackling with static interference. The jungle didn't play nice with electronics.

"Yeah, I know the hyperdrive is still broken," she shot back. "No thanks to you."

There was a pause, then the droid warbled an apology.

"It's alright Niner, the alluvial dampers are a lost cause, and we can't jump to hyperspace without gravitic sensors anyway. That's not what I was calling about."

Niner was what she called R2-C9, her weatherbeaten astromech droid. He was an older model R2 designation, but she couldn't bear calling him Artoo. She sometimes wondered what had happened to Anakin's adventurous astro droid, but not often- Anakin had usually kept Artoo close at hand, which meant he had probably been in the Temple when it burned. Either the little droid had been blasted by clones, buried by rubble, or memory-wiped and put to work in the Emperor's grand palace, built on the Temple ruins. Ahsoka ground her teeth at the thought of Palpatine sitting on top of a Force nexus and five thousand years of galactic history, having banquets and entertaining politicians, while Artoo served drinks.

Niner chirped back a reply, calling Ahsoka out of the memory.

"I want you to start up the ship, get her ready for sublight," she said, going through a checklist in her head. "I know we're going to be short on power, so don't run weapons or comms, and keep the shields low, rear deflectors only."

She was reasonably sure that Asajj wouldn't shoot at her- she was busy dealing with Boba, and she would want to follow Ahsoka, not blast her out of the sky. The bounty on her head was only valid if she survived, and the darts and the stun net meant they wanted her alive. Barely. Ahsoka grimaced, looking from the blaster burn on her hip to her numbed foot. She could feel the rest of her leg now, but Boba's dart had sunk two inches into her thigh and she hadn't noticed until she'd caught Asajj looking at it. She was already feeling sluggish from whatever toxin was on it, but she was fairly sure it wasn't going to kill her- Vader wanted her alive. The Force was a powerful ally, and while Ahsoka had limited experience with poisons, she had become fairly adept at healing after practicing on her occasional visitors. Just another useful trick the jungle had taught her.

 _Unless Boba has an antidote to keep me alive._

She shuddered at the thought. Boba knew he wouldn't get paid if she died, but seeing his stun net told Ahsoka that he had no qualms about hurting her. He might have given her something lethal, then forced her to surrender for the cure.

All the more reason to get to Dxun quickly.

Ahsoka wasn't entirely sure about her plan, but Asajj had seemed changed enough that she thought it could work. Even if it didn't, Dxun was strong with the Force. Ahsoka might be able to clean the poison out of her blood there. Dxun was not a pleasant place, and the tomb was ten times worse, but the Force was the Force. She had learned that the hard way, during the war and her exile. The Jedi taught that aggressive power was taboo, the Sith turned up their noses at healing and prescience, but the Force just… was. What really mattered was what you used it for. Dxun was a place of the Dark Side, but that was only because of ancient history. The Force was strong there, and Ahsoka was disciplined enough to use it for healing without falling prey to the tomb's fell influence.

Master Yoda had taught her a little about what a Force nexus was, back when she was just a youngling, but something about his lesson had stuck with her. When an event occurs that tips the balance toward dark or light, the place where it happens becomes charged with the Force. All living things around the place are affected by the change, but most are unaware. When a place is extremely strong in the Force, that means something great or terrible has happened there, and the place will reflect the nature of the event. She dimly remembered stumbling upon the names of some ancient Jedi that had gone to Dxun; something to do with Sith and Mandalorians. Something had tainted the forest moon with the Dark Side, and it had stayed dark for thousands of years. Ahsoka shuddered to think what might have happened there.

Niner beeped something that sounded affirmative through the comlink. Ahsoka had never been quite as good at droidspeak as Anakin had, and Niner's loudspeaker was starting to decay from the damp jungle air.

"Speak up, little guy. Is the ship alright?"

Niner chattered back for almost a minute before Ahsoka cut him off.

"I don't care what Elsee said to you, she's a protocol droid. She doesn't know which end of my ship is the front, she doesn't know what a hydrospanner looks like, and even if she did, I still haven't put her arms back on." Ahsoka held back a laugh. LC-48 was a feisty vintage droid that Ahsoka had been restoring to sell in Iziz. Her ancient programming made her remarkably rude and unreasonable, but her value was for collectors rather than those in need of an actual protocol droid. Ahsoka had been forced to detach both of Elsee's arms after she'd caught the droid throwing a hyperdrive attenuator at Niner's domed head.

Niner was silent, and Ahsoka guessed he was sulking. Anakin was right- leaving astromechs too long without a memory wipe gave them an attitude. That was why he had never erased Artoo's memory banks. Stuffing the comlink back into her bag, she adjusted the blanket of leaves that camouflaged her cliffside hut. Then she walked to the edge, looked down two hundred meters at the muddy river below, and stepped out into thin air.

She only fell for a second before landing on a wide ledge, nearly invisible from the floor of the canyon, and stepped into the shade of the overhanging cliff. Just below her hut, there was an open cave about 20 meters deep- enough to hide a Y-wing. The angular starfighter sat diagonally in the hollow, nose pointing out for an easier takeoff; it had taken a tricky bit of flying to land it like that. A few supply crates and shelves lined the walls, in between durasteel braces that held the ceiling, and a ladder was fixed to the back wall, leading up into her hut. There was even a small table with a holocomm interface. It wasn't pretty, but the makeshift hangar was as good as Ahsoka could have asked for. Lux had been instrumental in sneaking her materials and construction droids when she had first settled on Onderon, and she still hadn't properly repaid him for the favor.

The Y-wing was third-hand at best, likely even older. She didn't actually know, as she had stolen the Headhunter when she fled Coruscant, but Ahsoka had put three owners' worth of flying into it on her own. It had once been yellow, but the carbon scoring and the wear of uncounted parsecs had turned it mostly grey, the original paint peeking through in ragged spots. Scrapes and burns pocked the hull, and a large dent in the ventral plates marked the spot where she'd rammed a V-wing into a turbolaser battery, during one of her close calls that first year on the run. A red-skinned Twi-Lek dancer was emblazoned on one side below the canopy; Ahsoka had painted it on as a disguise, after her ship had been chased across half the Outer Rim by Imperials. Now, the poorly-painted dancer made her feel lucky, so she'd kept it.

Niner rolled out from beneath one of the engine pods, busy with some small repair or another. Ahsoka gathered a few things- hydrospanners, glowrods, a couple of droid repair kits in case the little astromech started malfunctioning. Her goggles were missing, but after looking for a minute she found them on Elsee's bronze head. Who knew how she had managed that without arms. Elsee pointedly ignored Ahsoka while she stuffed the goggles into her travelsack with everything else, swinging it back onto her shoulder. By the time she was ready, Niner was already slotted in and performing preflight checks.

She vaulted into the cockpit and slid the canopy closed, feeling an empty space where the joystick's trigger should have been. That had been one of the parts she had torn out while building her lightsaber. She didn't want to think about the other missing parts. The twin engines coughed to life, and Niner warbled back a positive readout for all the important systems. Ahsoka fought off a wave of drowsiness from the poisoned dart, then gently guided the ship out of the cliff face. The landing gear stuck halfway up and the coolant gauge was reading nearly empty, but she didn't mind. Dxun loomed overhead, green-black as it passed in front of the hazy yellow sun. She didn't have very far to go.


	5. The Cave

Asajj stood on the boarding ramp, looking up in disbelief as the most haggard-looking Y-wing she'd ever seen skimmed low over the jungle, sporting a ridiculous dancing Twi-Lek on the hull.

 _It can't be her._ Asajj stared as the heavy fighter turned a lazy circle around the clearing. _Probably some pirate scum leaving Iziz. There's no way..._

The ship waggled its engine pods, and a piece of rusty metal actually fell out, bouncing off _Slave 1_ 's panelling with a loud _clank_. It banked hard enough that Asajj got a glimpse of Ahsoka grinning roguishly at her from the cockpit, and then sped off toward the dark moon that hung over the jungle.

Asajj growled through her teeth at the Y-wing, then turned and stalked inside _Slave 1_. Her legs ached and trembled from running with Boba's armored body on her shoulders, but he was safe now, covered in bacta and bandages and strapped carefully into the copilot's seat. The armor and flight suit had been charred to his skin, and Asajj had been forced to cut some of it away, but the bacta was already working. She could see the burn on his face fading under the bandages. The medical droid said Boba would only have some scars on his shoulders and back when he had healed. He had woken halfway up while the droid was stitching synth-flesh onto him, but all he had asked was "did you catch her?", over and over until she had slipped a sedative needle into his neck. She had to keep him asleep until they could get to a bacta tank; otherwise he would just open his wounds again chasing after his bounty. But he would be out for hours, and Asajj knew where to look for Ahsoka…

Asajj tightened Boba's harness, then strapped herself into the pilot's seat. _Slave 1_ shuddered as the engines turned on, and she smiled tightly as the flight display came up. The ship tilted forward and rose out of the clearing. Dxun fell into view, hanging huge and dark in the sky. The Y-wing was gone from sight, but Ahsoka had left her a trail a blind woman could follow, and Asajj was nowhere near blind.

She felt the power of Dxun wash over her as the moon grew closer, something ancient and hidden beneath the mass of green and grey. It pulled hungrily at her, and she gunned _Slave 1_ forward, passing briefly through the vacuum of space before hitting the moon's atmosphere. Dark thunderheads raced by under the ship as she came closer, closer, drawn by the scent of her prey and the strange lure of Dxun. It was the same power she had felt returning to Dathomir, years ago- the place was alive with the Force, and it called her name.

The trail led her to the far side of the moon, darkened by Onderon's shadow. _Slave 1_ plunged through a wall of cloud and dropped toward the surface. Green and black trees clawed over each other in an unbroken mass for as far as Asajj could see. She watched as something took shape through the grey sheets of rain, too straight and regular to be more trees. Something huge and black and tiered, jutting up toward the clouds. _A pyramid._ The ancient Sith had sometimes built huge temples like this, but she didn't remember hearing about one on Dxun. Asajj began to sweat, trying to remember the sinister tales she'd learned about Sith temples from Dooku. They were usually filled with traps and nasty creatures. Cultists sometimes fell under their power, worshipping the Sith Lord buried inside. Some were also filled with treasures, hidden libraries of Dark Side knowledge, armories...

 _Lightsabers._

A huge overgrown courtyard sprawled in front of the pyramid, marked by toppled columns and massive flagstones. Ahsoka's Y-wing sat at the far side, dwarfed by the huge structure, the garish red dancer bright as fire. _Slave 1_ 's searchlight reflected darkly off the black, rain-slicked faces of the pyramid. She absently began the landing sequence, shivering slightly as the hair on her neck prickled upright. The Force was strong with this place… too strong, almost. Asajj had half-forgotten what true power felt like. She knew how to call on it when she needed it, and she knew how to feel for it; but it had been a long time since she had been near something with this much latent power. It was like sharing a room with a sleeping giant, just about to stir awake.

As _Slave 1_ touched down smoothly on the flagstones, Asajj was already on the boarding ramp. She rested her hands on her vibroblade hilts, staring at the weatherbeaten yellow starfighter. A dirty red astromech stuck up behind the canopy, peering at her and whistling nervously. She strained to hear above the downpour, but after a moment she could tell the little starfighter was shut down.

Behind the Y-wing, an enormous double door of black stone towered over the courtyard. Asajj started walking toward it, passing the heavy fighter without so much as a second glance, ignoring the strands of hair plastered over one eye by wind and water. Before she knew it, she had a hand on the stone, brushing her fingertips over carvings too ancient to read. Something in there was beckoning, a voice she couldn't quite hear over the distant thunder. Or maybe it was _in_ the thunder…

Asajj cleared her mind and focused all her awareness to the door. To her surprise, the stone slab began creeping inward, turning silently on massive hinges until there was a crack wide enough to walk through. She hadn't even tried to open it- the door had responded to the Force on its own. The room beyond was the empty black of deep space, drinking the blue-green sliver of light from the doorway. Asajj pulled a glowrod from her belt and cracked it. Two hours of harsh white light would hopefully be enough to find Ahsoka; that left her one more rod to find her back out. Holding the glowrod over her head, she stepped through the door.

The floor was wet and slick, brushed smooth by millennia of flowing water. Little pools had already begun to form when the door had opened, and as Asajj walked deeper into the temple, the water crept slowly up her ankle. It wasn't murky or stagnant like she'd expected; it was clear to the floor and cold even through the synthleather boot, almost icy. Asajj cast the glowrod's light around, but it didn't reach the ceiling or the far wall. The room must have been massive. There was no sound but the distant roll of thunder, echoes of dripping water and Asajj's footfalls. The rest of Dxun was a thousand years of overgrowth, but Asajj couldn't make out anything growing inside. Anything alive at all. Nothing but stone and water and light and darkness… She kept walking, and the room kept going; further, deeper, darker each step. She couldn't tell how long she'd been in the temple, but it couldn't have been long… except the water was already at her waist. Part of her wanted to turn around, to forget the mission, but another part didn't know of a mission at all. There was nothing but her and the pale white halo pushing back the darkness on all sides, the chill clawing at her bare arms, and the echoes of her every step that stretched for kilometers out into the endless dark. Asajj took another step, froze as she felt a stream of clear, dead water slide between her lips.

Then the glowrod went out, and she was blind.

Asajj whirled around, stirring up little waves, her feet slipping and dragging along the bottom. More water was in her mouth now, icy on her tongue, and she blew out a panicked breath. The door was impossibly far away, the sliver of light just a blue pinprick. She had only been in the temple for a few minutes, but the doors were a kilometer away at least. No, two. Then she froze in horror as she realized the speck of light was moving slowly away…

She plunged toward the door, half running, half swimming, but it was shrinking away before her, smaller and smaller. Then it was gone completely, and the distant thunder stopped. The silence pressed all around like a tangled blanket, tighter and tighter until Asajj felt a scream tear from her throat; but she heard nothing. She felt cold to her bones, but the water was gone, like everything else. There was no light at all, no sound, except for… footsteps? Asajj was rooted to the floor, but _something_ was walking closer, closer, in ever-tightening circles. And then, even through the cloud of perfect darkness, she saw the face of Ky Narec.

"Master?" Asajj tried to speak, but the words choked her. She gaped as the Jedi appeared before her, lit by a chill green blade. Ky Narec was dead, dead, long gone, but somehow…

"You failed me." The words were cold and sharp on his tongue, slivers of ice and bone and the anger of a dead man. "You failed us. You fell to the Dark Side. I should have left you to die on Rattatak so others might have lived."

"You failed me." This voice was different, but it was sonorous, masking acid hatred. "You failed my Master. You could never have become Sith. You are an embarrassment to the Dark Side." Dooku stood next to Ky Narec, his lightsaber a bloody red.

"You failed me." The third voice was otherworldly, a serpent through the void. "You failed your Nightsisters. They offered their lives to protect you, you who were given away at birth only to return and doom us." Mother Talzin was beside Dooku, lit by trails of green mist.

Asajj heard footsteps behind her, willed herself to turn her head. A blue blade lit up, then a green one, then more and more. Hundreds. Thousands. They spoke as one, and the galaxy shook with it. "You are the Dark Side. You destroyed us. We will be forgotten because of you. Monster…"

They stepped forward, closer, closer, and Asajj cast a thousand thousand shadows in the light of their blades. She suddenly found she could move again, and grabbed desperately for her vibroblades; but when she drew them, they weren't dull metal. They were weightless blades of silver-white fire, and the greens and blues and Dooku's terrible red saber were paled and diminished by their light. Asajj didn't realize she was shouting at first, but words tore from her throat as she held the silver sabers aloft.

"I AM NOT A MONSTER." Her voice was high and clear and blazed suddenly out of her, bright as the blades she held. "I did not fail. I am not who I was." She looked at Ky Narec, and realized she was looking down at him.

"I am not who you made me." Dooku watched her from beneath his silver brows, saber held in mocking salute.

"And I am not my sisters." Asajj turned to Mother Talzin, green mist boiling away at the witch's feet.

Asajj turned her back on her masters and faced the Jedi, tall and fearless. They stood in ranks, fading into the distance.

"I did not destroy you," she said, but softly this time. "I was blind in the war, as were you. The Sith deceived us all. If I had known, I would have fought at your side. I was young, and foolish, but I would have fought them. I know that now, even though it is too late." Asajj was whispering now, but each Jedi stood in rapt attention. She didn't know where the words were coming from, but she knew it was the truth.

"I will not forget." She looked over her shoulder, but her masters had vanished into the black.

Turning back, she saw that the furthest Jedi had stepped aside to form a path through their center, and a shadowy figure was making its way toward her. As it passed each rank of Jedi, they faded into the darkness, and one by one the blades went out until there was nothing but Asajj's silver flames and a black-robed, hooded shape before her. It looked up at her, and she saw a long red mask, almost like Boba's.

"You are neither Jedi, nor Sith." Its voice was cool and soothing, low and quiet and only for her. "Neither light, nor dark. You have left your former self, and seek a new one. I know this, because I was the same."

Asajj blinked, too surprised to speak.

"There is another like you, one who you hate and admire and pursue. One who has felt loss and betrayal, just as you have. She will come soon, but first we must speak."

"Who are you?" The words were quiet, none of the resonance of before, but Asajj felt nothing but aching curiosity.

"An old ghost with many names, and one." The mask was still, but she thought she could hear a tiny smile in the voice. "I was like you, once. First Jedi, then Sith, then neither. A tool in the hands of both. They took my mind, molded me into what they needed, then cast me aside. I waged war on the galaxy and won, then fought my own army and won again. I am here because you are here, and because this is a place that remembers me."

"Why did you bring me here?" Asajj knew it was true the moment she said it, though she couldn't know how.

"Because you needed me. You feel guilt for what you have done, you believe the Force has turned on you, but because of this you have turned yourself. You are not in balance, but you can be if you try. The galaxy may not forgive you yet, but you must forgive and forget yourself, as I did. Leave your past behind, and a new future is created. The Force is not finished with you. Listen, and it will guide you."

The figure stretched out a hand toward Asajj, the tips of its dark fingers curling into mist. A tiny ember of white light shone in its hand, and as she reached out, it pressed the light into her hand. There were two of them, whatever they were, and felt like chips of cold glass.

"May the Force be with you, Asajj Ventress."

"Wait!" Asajj reached desperately for the smoky hand, but it was nearly invisible now in the darkness, and she swiped at air. "Don't go, help me! Don't leave me alone!" The silver blades were gone, but a light was growing above her, even as the figure disappeared before her eyes. Her chest was burning, the cold leeching into her bones, and suddenly a red hand clasped around her wrist.

Half-drowned, half-frozen, and completely astonished, Asajj beamed up at the face of Ahsoka Tano. She looked dumbly at the Jedi, then they both turned to Asajj's fist, as one by one her fingers uncurled. In her palm sat two pale, perfect crystals.

Lightsaber crystals.


	6. Confrontation

_She's cold._ Ahsoka had managed to drag Ventress from the icy water and out the door of the temple, but her Dathomirian skin looked even paler than it should have. Asajj's lips were tinged blue, and what hair she had was sodden wet. The rain wasn't helping- it was still pouring, but now Onderon had slid in front of the sun, chilling the moon in shadow. Asajj had her long arms tangled together in a knot, her right hand a clenched fist, her eyes constantly darting from the crystals to Ahsoka, a mixture of suspicion and disbelief. Her left drifted toward her vibroblade hilt, then found it and jerked away unconsciously. Who knew what that meant.

Never in a thousand years did Ahsoka imagine she would have ended up saving the Sith assassin's life, but leaving her to die in the temple was wrong. Something had told Ahsoka to pull her out of the water- not the Force, not a premonition, but she had done it all the same. The Clone Wars had been chaotic, but both Ahsoka and Ventress had felt so confident, leading strike teams and commanding battles against each other, clear and certain that they were on the right side of the galaxy. And by the time the war was over, both had been hunted by their former orders, even to the point of fighting side by side with each other in the undercity of Coruscant. They had both lost their Masters- everyone in the Republic had heard about Anakin Skywalker's heroic duel with the leader of the Separatists, how he had defeated and killed Count Dooku. And everyone in the Galaxy had heard about the Jedi plot to overthrow the Chancellor, and how they were punished for their treason. The war had changed both their lives, sent them running for shelter as the Republic crashed down around them, and the Empire began their relentless hunt for anyone who could use the Force. Maybe there was a reason they had met again, so far from the echoes of their past. Ahsoka had seen stranger things happen.

As bad as Asajj looked, Ahsoka felt worse. The poison was still spreading. Since she had landed on Dxun, she had been meditating in an alcove high on the back side of the pyramid, trying to harness the raw Force energy coming from Dxun's ruins to purify her blood, but so far she had only succeeded in muting the effects of Boba's poison dart. As it was, she felt like her feet and hands were encased in duracrete. Her eyelids dragged heavily when she blinked. The Force was muddy, sluggish, but it was still there- if Ahsoka hadn't spent hours willing her heart to slow, everything would have been twice as serious. She still didn't know if it was lethal, or just a ferociously powerful sedative. _I hope there's an antidote in that ship._

 _Slave 1_ stood silhouetted by the planetary eclipse, stark against the greens and greys of Dxun's windswept forest. Ahsoka's Y-wing sat in the larger ship's shadow, but she could still make out the red dome of Niner's head, poking up behind the canopy. The droid whistled happily as it it rotated around to see Ahsoka in the temple's huge doorway. Niner's exclamation cut short as Asajj came into view, and he rocked nervously in the fighter's droid socket.

"Oh calm down, I'm not going to eat you."

Ahsoka jumped. It was the first thing Ventress had said since she'd left the cave. At first she thought the comment was directed at her, and turned in surprise- only to see Asajj glaring at Niner. The droid twittered indignantly at her.

"It's not his fault, I programmed him to recognize people who might be dangerous. Like you, for example."

Ahsoka stepped closer to Ventress, but then realized what she was doing. _Getting ready for a fight. I thought you were going to let her make the first move, this time._ She forced herself to relax, but kept a hand close to her lightsaber hilt. _In case her first move is swinging a vibroblade._

Asajj stared her down for a moment, but then sighed and let her gaze fall. She cupped her hands and breathed into them, trying to warm herself again.

"I'm not dangerous. Not to you, anyway. You proved that in the jungle." Asajj slapped her jammed blaster, buckled into its holster. "I'm done fighting you. It's bad for my health."

"What about…" Ahsoka gestured toward _Slave 1_ , shame creeping into her as she avoided his name. She didn't _think_ Boba had been too badly hurt, but it was hard to be sure. She could feel that he was alive, but beyond that, the Dark Side aura of Dxun clouded her vision.

"He'll live." Asajj tensed up again, then blew out an angry breath, slouching back against the temple wall again. "He got burned pretty badly, but we have bacta and a med droid on the ship. He's going to be fine." She studied her armored shoulder plate.

"I shouldn't have done that." said Ahsoka. A wave of fatigue rolled through her, and she focused on keeping herself upright.

"No, you definitely should have. He deserves to be knocked down a few pegs now and then." Asajj laughed harshly. "You Jedi are really something else. Boba tries to blast you, electrocute you, set you on fire, poison you, and you just feel sorry for him."

Ahsoka grimaced. "I'm not a Jedi anymore. And about that last part… I hope you have an antidote in that ship."

"Oh, I almost forgot about that. Boba has it stashed away somewhere, but I'll find it." Asajj started toward _Slave 1_ , shivering and shielding her face from the rain. "Can't let you die after all that. The bounty on your head is only good if you're alive." Through the storm, Ahsoka thought she heard a sliver of a smile in the assassin's voice. She followed, dragging her feet through the grass.

Niner's sensors lit up and he scanned Asajj as she passed the Y-wing. He burbled at her, and she smiled sweetly back at the little droid, showing altogether too many sharpened incisors. Niner muttered in alarm and tried to lean away from her in his socket, but Asajj pushed her face right up to his ocular lens.

She grinned. "I lied. I do eat droids."

Niner yelped and stuck out his arc welder, but Asajj was already walking away, laughing to herself. Ahsoka patted the little droid on his domed head.

"Don't worry, little guy. You could have taken her."

Before he could reply, danger flashed in Ahsoka's mind, fighting through the haze of poison and fatigue. She spun to look for Ventress, guessing the assassin was the source; she had drawn both her vibroblades, but she wasn't facing Ahsoka- it appeared she had felt the same warning through the Force.

"Get away from the ship!" Asajj shouted, dropping her blades. She stood frozen, her eyes huge with fear. Everything seemed to be moving very slowly, and Ahsoka watched as the nose guns of _Slave 1_ lit up with crackling blue fire.

Then the ion cannon fired, and Ahsoka was thrown across the courtyard.

She hit the ground hard, bouncing and twisting her injured leg as she landed. Arcing blue energy curled around her as she lay in a heap, her wet clothes steaming. She groaned and lifted her head. Her leg was broken in at least two different places, and there was blood pooling in her mouth, from biting her tongue when she landed. Ahsoka forced herself to focus her eyes, and the Y-wing swam into view.

The front of the fighter was completely blackened, the dancing Twi-Lek blasted halfway off. Flames sprouted from a dozen places, hissing in the rain, and the ion blast was still crawling over the hull. Niner's circuits sparked, his red eye winking on and off. _Boba's awake_ , she thought grimly. _But he wasn't trying to hit me… he aimed at my ship. Cut off my escape. A double cross? Was Ventress in on this?_ She tried to stand, but crumpled before she made it halfway to her feet. Blood and muddy water pooled around her head. She prodded at her face, discovering a cut where she might have landed on a rock. She couldn't see Asajj, but she saw movement in the corner of her eye, and turned her head painfully. _This is what I get for letting my guard down._

On _Slave 1_ 's landing ramp, a green-armored figure was limping his way toward them. One hand was holding a long blaster rifle like a crutch. The other hand held a belt full of gleaming silver spheres. _Thermal detonators. Great._

"Give her up!" Boba's voice rang through the speech filter in his helmet, artificially amplified to be heard over the rain. "Do it, or I turn this whole place into a crater!" The belt of detonators clanked ominously as they swung in his grip. "I'm not giving this bounty up, Ventress!"

"Put down the grenades first and we'll talk!" Ahsoka rolled onto her back and watched Ventress step into sight above her, calling her vibroblades into her hands with the Force.

"Not this time. That _schutta_ nearly killed me, I'm not taking any chances." Boba limped closer. "Now back off, or I'll be collecting two bounties."

"No you won't. You need me." Ventress sheathed one vibroblade, shooting a poisonous look at him. "And she's not going anywhere. Just look at her."

"I don't care. I want this blasted Jedi to pay." Boba hobbled closer, leaning on his rifle. "Vader didn't say anything about unharmed, did he?"

"She's nearly dead already. Just put some binders on her and throw her in one of the force cages." Asajj let her blade linger a moment longer, then switched it off and sheathed it at her waist.

"Fine. Lock her up, keep her quiet." He stared down at Ahsoka, and she could see herself reflected in his visor. Broken, bloody, covered in mud and filth. Defeated. _Anakin, if you could see me now._

Boba switched his detonators off and slung the belt back over his shoulder. Even with the poison deadening Ahsoka's Force senses, she could sense the pain rolling off the bounty hunter. _Her fault._ The long rifle pressed heavily into the mud as he walked back to the ship. The detonators winked maliciously, catching the sun as it slipped out from behind Onderon. Behind Boba's mask, she felt nothing but cold rage and revenge, blended for years until they were indistinguishable. _Her fault. The Jedi's fault. We killed his father, and made him instead. One bad man dies, and a worse one takes his place._ He made it to the boarding ramp and then turned back around, looking at Ahsoka's ship.

"Ventress."

"What now?"

"Junk the droid," he said as he started up the ramp. "I don't want it telling anyone about our cargo."

Ahsoka felt a chill that had nothing to do with the rain.

Niner was still sparking from the ion shot, but when Asajj got closer, the droid began lighting up again. He whistled a complaint. Ahsoka tried to reach out with the Force to stop Asajj, but she barely stirred the wind. Asajj pulled something from one of her pockets. Niner beeped frantically, stuck in his droid slot. _Leave him alone, you witch!_ She could do nothing but watch as Asajj extended a pale hand… and fed a data disc into Niner's head. The droid beeped affirmative. _What was that?_ Ahsoka wanted to ask, but her mouth wouldn't cooperate. She had never felt so tired. Even the pain was gone now; all she could feel was the freezing rain bouncing off her skin. _Am I dying?_

Ahsoka felt Asajj's hand slip under her arm, and then she was being hauled upright. Pain shot through her head, jolting her awake again. She was lifted roughly to her feet, caught as the broken leg collapsed under her.

"Can you walk?" asked Asajj.

Ahsoka tried, but only one leg would move. She fell sideways and hit Asajj in the chest, but the taller woman grabbed her shoulder before she could end up back on the ground. Together, they hobbled their way toward the ramp, Ahsoka's useless foot dragging in the mud.

Asajj stopped as they reached _Slave 1_ , leaning in toward Ahsoka's ear. She waited a long moment in silence, then spoke so quietly it could barely be heard over the rain.

"Don't worry, Jedi. I have a plan."


End file.
